Architecture, Streets & Antebellum Homes

Exhibited in the oldest structure in Downtown Greenville, this museum presents the history of one of the greatest natural disasters this country has ever known. On Thursday, April 21, 1927, at 7:45 a.m., the levee at Stops Landing, 8 miles north of Greenville, broke due to the pressure from the swollen Mississippi River and created the greatest single crevasse ever to occur anywhere on the river. View actual flood artifacts and photographs illustrating the flood’s impact on life and death during the four months Greenville and the Mississippi Delta were inundated. The 12-minute documentary film superbly illustrates the Great Flood of ’27 and the struggle of man against nature.

Step back in time to when paddle wheelers plied the Mississippi and cotton fortunes were made and lost. Classical architecture of the late 19th century lives on here, well-preserved and home to various law offices, accounting firms and merchants.

This Neoclassical Revival building was built in 1903 by the first federally chartered bank in Washington County. First National’s founding president James E. Negus selected the building’s marble and stained-glass windows from Italy. Today, the restored building houses the Greenville Municipal Court.

Built around 1880 during a thriving railroad economy, the station displays period railway architecture.

The unique architectural detailing representative of the 1880s pays homage to the city’s oldest commercial structure, the former Levee Board Complex. Completely restored and renovated, the building is now home to Greenville Inn & Suites.

Purchased in the 1840s by the Hampton family, the plantation was operated in the 1850s, 60s and 70s by Wade Hampton, III, distinguished Civil War General and the first Governor of South Carolina after Reconstruction.

If not for Holt Collier, there would be no teddy bears. A freedman who served in the Confederate Army and one of the few to receive a Confederate pension, Holt later gained fame as a tracker and hunting guide for President Theodore Roosevelt during the famous “Mississippi Bear Hunt.” Holt Collier Street is located across from Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Built in the early 1900s, this 20-room mansion is a stunning example of turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival architecture. It sits on what is believed to be the site of the first house built in the territory and is operated by descendants of the original owners.

Longer and taller than the Great Wall of China, the Mississippi River Levee System stands as a testimony to the Delta’s long-fought battle with Mother Nature. Walk atop this engineering marvel on Greenville’s downtown waterfront between Main and Central.

In the town of Foote is a magnificent mansion once owned by the family of Shelby Foote, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil War historian. Mount Holly, built of slave-made brick with 14-foot ceilings and 2-foot-thick walls, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house, one of the finest examples of Italianate architecture in the state, is now a private residence. (Burned in 2015)

Nelson Street was historically the thriving economic, social, cultural, and religious center of Greenville’s African-American community. The Nelson Street District has been home to many local businesses such as Anderson’s Photo Service, Brown’s Bakery, The Casablanca, May’s Restaurant, The Flowing Fountain, Bailey’s Restaurant, The Green Grill, Pete’s Barber Shop, Celestine’s Shoe Shine Shop, the YMCA (Pythian Hall), Union Cab, The Playboy Club, and Annie Mae’s Soul Food Cafe. In addition, the medical practices and residences of Dr. Charles Holmes, Dr. C.B. Clark, G.P. Maddox, and some of Greenville’s most prominent African Americans were located in the Nelson Street District.

This historic structure, built in 1881, was an inspired setting for Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Hodding Carter, Jr., who penned editorials advocating racial and religious tolerance.

The Belmont 1857 is the only remaining antebellum mansion on the Mississippi River in Greenville/Washington County. Built in 1857 for W.W. Worthington and restored to its original grandeur, Belmont is now a Bed and Breakfast and is available for weddings, events and tours. Visit their website for more information or contact Brad Hauser at 501.650.2296 or info@thebelmont1857.com

The Lakeport Plantation house, built in 1859, is the only remaining Arkansas antebellum plantation home on the Mississippi River. The Greek Revival structure is one of Arkansas’s premiere historic structures. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the home was gifted to Arkansas State University by the Sam Epstein Angel family in 2001. After five years of restoration work, the home opened to the public.

The original courthouse was burned by Union troops during the Civil War and replaced in 1890 with a structure comprised primarily of Illinois brownstone. Its original planners were avid conservationists and landscaped the grounds with a variety of trees indigenous to the area, creating the Courthouse Arboretum. The Confederate monument located in the Arboretum is most noteworthy. It, like many of its kind in Mississippi, faces south.

Named “Fort Nicholoson” in honor of Lt. Louis M. Nicholoson, who died during an air raid over Romania in World War II, the Armory now houses the Washington County/Greenville Convention and Visitors Bureau. Stop by and we’ll give you all the travel information you need.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this mid-19th century house is reminiscent of the era of horseless carriages and Classic Revival cottages.